Bhubaneswar/ New Delhi: Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first full-time woman Finance Minister, presented the first budget of the second term of the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha today. At a high-level meeting, the Union Cabinet approved the Budget 2019 which is being presented by Sithararam.

Deductions in loans for affordable housing. Rs 1.5 lakh discount on purchase of house worth Rs 45 lakh. Govt proposes additional deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh (total deduction, Rs 3.5 lakh) on interest on home loans taken up to March 2020: FM Sitharaman.

Propose to increase special additional duty and road and infrastructure cess on diesel and petrol by Re 1/litre and increase customs duty on gold and other precious metals from 10 to 12.5%: FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Those in highest income bracket need to contribute more to national development. Propose to enhance surcharge on individual income of Rs 2.5 crore and over Rs 5 crore by 3% and 7% respectively: Nirmala Sitharaman.

All companies having annual turnover of 400 crores, will now be under the bracket of 25%. This will cover 99.3% of all the companies: FM Sitharaman.

To resolve the so-called Angel Tax issue, the startups and their investors who file requisite declarations and provide information in their returns will not be subjected to any kind of scrutiny in respect of valuations of share premiums: FM

To discourage the practice of making business payments in cash I propose to levy TDS of 2% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 1 crore in a year from a bank account: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

With over 120 crore people having Aadhar cards, to file IT return, Aadhar card and PAN card will be interchangeable; those who cannot quote PAN can now use Aadhar to file tax return: FM Nirmala Sitharaman.

Govt has already moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles(EV) from 12% to 5%. Also to make EVs affordable for consumers our Govt will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on the loans taken to purchase EVs: FM

No income tax for income less than Rs 5 lakh per year. To resolve angle tax issue, start-ups who file declarations will not be scrutiny in valuation: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Some key announcements made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during presentation of Union Budget 2019.

This govt has gone beyond having women-centric policies to women-led initiatives.; every verified women SHG member can avail overdraft of Rs 5000 through Jan Dhan Bank Account; 1 in every SHG will be able to avail loan up to Rs 1 lakh under Mudra Scheme: FM

Education:

2 IITs & IISc Bangalore enlisted among top 200 institutions of the world; Rs 400 crore to be provided under head ‘World Class Institutions’ in 2019-20 which is 3 times more than the revised estimates of previous years. Launch of ‘Study in India’ scheme which will focus on bringing foreign students to India for higher education: FM Sitharaman

Creation of National Research Foundation to promote research and innovation in School & Higher Education; It will assimmilate research grants by various ministries & be adequately supplemented by other govt funds: FM

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To popularise sports at all levels, National Sports Education Board for development of sportspersons to be set up under Khelo India: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: With the changing economic scenario it’s important to upgrade roads connecting villages to rural markets. For this Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana phase 3 is envisaged to upgrade 1,25,000 km of road length over the next 5 years.

#Budget2019 | 1.5 cr houses have been built in the last 5 years & under the PM Awas Yojana, the government aims to achieve housing for all by 2022. 1.95 crore houses are proposed to be built for the poor & eligible beneficiaries by 2022: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Railway infra would need an investment of 50 lakh crores between 2018 and 2030; PPP to be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services : Sitharaman

#Budget2019 | Pension benefit to be extended to around 3 crore retail traders and shopkeepers with an annual turnover of less than 1.5 crores under Pradhan Mantri Karam Yogi Man Dhan Scheme: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Govt will invite suggestions for further opening up of FDI in aviation sector, media, animation AVGC and insurance sectors in consultation with all stakeholders. 100% FDI will be permitted for insurance intermediaries: Sitharaman

“We set the ball rolling for creating a ‘New India”, said Finance Minister while presenting the budget in Parliament.

The Indian economy will grow to become a $3 trillion economy in the current year itself. It is now the sixth largest in the world. 5 years ago it was at the 11th position. It took us over 55 years to reach $1 trillion dollar economy. But when the hearts are filled with hope, trust & aspiration, we in just 5 years, added $1 trillion, said Sitharaman.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman further said schemes such as ‘Bharatmala’, ‘Sagarmala’ and UDAN are bridging the rural and urban divide, improving our transport infrastructure.

Ahead of her Budget 2019 speech, Sitharaman met President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The highlight was that Sitharaman carried the budget documents wrapped in a red cloth (traditional bahi khata) instead of the customary briefcase.

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